Menuhin-Kentner vs. Menuhin-Kempf

April 4, 2007 at 03:02 PM · My favorite Menuhin Sonata recordings are those he made with his sister, Hephzibah. They recorded Beethoven Nos. 5 and 9 and Franck Sonata + some Mozart and others in the 78 rpm era.

I never could understand why Menuhin, with his extremely sensitive, lyrical and cushioned way of singing and speaking with his bow, would want to collaborate with Kempf who, to my ear, seemed to jab at the piano in a way that very much lacks these qualities. (The contrast between the violin and the piano opening statements of the first movement principal theme, of the Menuhin/Kempf Beethoven "Spring" Sonata, is startling.) When I expressed this opinion to one pianist colleague of mine, he pointed out that Kempf had some position at DGG that may have been the reason for his being Menuhin's pianist on this Beethoven Sonata series.

April 4, 2007 at 10:48 PM · I love Kenter and can't stand Kempff prussian style.would take Kentner any time. Besides,YM was

good when they recorded all LVB sonatas.

BTW, if you happen to see Kentner recording of Liszt complete Raphsodies or Lyapunov complete transcendental etudes, get them. Fantastic!

April 4, 2007 at 11:22 PM · Thanks a lot!

April 5, 2007 at 05:44 AM · Interesting.

In his autobiography Menuhin claimed that he and Kempff "...discovered straghtaway that we understood one another..." and, "...we played without rehearsal, often choosing the first 'take' of any particular movement."

He also stated that, "[Kempff]is the noblest exponent of the German tradition, who has remained true to the age when clock and metronome had not yet taken over the organic rhythm of the music..."

And, "He [Kempff] achieves a supremme integration of the natural and spontaneous on the one hand and, on the other, rigorous repsect for the composer's intetion."

I love their recordings of the Beethoven sonatas precisely because I share in my own way the spontenaity that Menuhin refers to.

(And still love his recordings with Hepzibah.)

April 5, 2007 at 08:04 AM · Just to harden the prejudices: Deutsche Grammophon paid most likely Yehudi Menuhin (or sponsored his book) to make him write nice about Kempff ;-)

FMF

April 6, 2007 at 05:42 AM · Wow. Menuhin must have bankrupted them. He said so many nice things about their (and EMI's and RCA's and etc., etc.) artists.

April 6, 2007 at 06:07 AM · Alan,

I am just a bit disappointed because nobody here did explain what Kempff's "Prussian style" is. I can just remember that the few not too fond of Kempff's playing during his lifetime complained about him being too lyrical, too romantic, too soft etc...

Maybe if his first name would have been let's say "Freddy" then some people would be more open to listen how he actually plays. And also free to respect Menuhin's own judgement a bit more.

FMF

April 11, 2007 at 04:12 AM · Mr.Fisher! So,which set you like better? By the way I just adore your daughter's playing. Would love to have her set in the future.

April 11, 2007 at 06:21 AM · привет!

1. I have no access to the Kentner recording, so I couldn't say.

2. As stated in other threads I never comment on any performance involving a violinist - for obvious reasons.

3. Clearly Menuhin was happy with the Kempff set so I think it could be worthwile to listen to it.

4. This discussion made me curious about Louis Kentner, so I went and fixed his Wikipedia entry a bit (like he wasn't of Hungarian origin, not even Hungarian sources claim that, etc.)

FMF

April 11, 2007 at 07:35 PM · Thanks, Mr. Fisher. Probably, my question is unanswerable. What does it mean in art "better"? Ещё раз спасибо

April 11, 2007 at 07:44 PM · Faster, cheaper, simpler, smaller environmental footprint.

April 11, 2007 at 07:50 PM · Good one.